


the surprise

by bluexshift



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Decorations, M/M, Surprises, but just kinda mentioned, pretty much all the main group are there
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-25
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2019-02-20 01:53:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,170
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13136667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluexshift/pseuds/bluexshift
Summary: magnus has said that he does christmas, but there are no decorations in the loft and no plans. alec wonders why





	the surprise

**Author's Note:**

> i guess half midnight on christmas day is the best time to think up an idea that you just have to get out!
> 
> merry christmas to all who celebrate, and a wonderful day if you don't - i'm really grateful this year for shadowhunters and malec to have come into my life, especially inspiring me to actually write and publish works
> 
> <3

“Magnus, can I ask you something?”

It was Christmas Eve, but the world didn’t entirely stop for festivities, especially the Downworld. They’d just recently returned to the loft together, Magnus meeting Alec from the Institute after both their days’ work had come to an end, in order to stroll back through the chilly city hand in hand. Alec was still in the process of hanging up his coat as he spoke.

“Ask away, I may or may not answer,” Magnus joked.

Alec smiled. “Uhm. Well, you’ve mentioned that you celebrate Christmas, have done since you were young, and I was wondering,” Alec paused, seeming to Magnus like he was gathering his words. “How come you’ve not decorated? Or made any plans?”

_Dammit._

 “Oh, I um.. decided not to do Christmas this year? Too much hassle. Would you like some tea, mon cherie?” Magnus asked, not waiting for an answer as he turned towards the kitchen, but Alec moved quicker than expected and had already caught Magnus’s hand. He froze, turning his head towards Alec with a neutral expression plastered on his face.

“Alexander?”

“Magnus, please- please tell me what’s bothering you,” Alec said gently, eyes worried as he stepped up into Magnus’s space and cupped his face.

And there Alec went again, seeing right through Magnus’s every façade. He sighed, wondering when it had become so easy to share his anxieties. Wondering when he started _wanting_ to share them.

“I… I figured you would want to be with your family, and I don’t want you to feel like you have to be with me, but at the same time I didn’t want to make other plans because- because I wanted to be with you.”

There was a moment’s silence, and Magnus worried he’d stepped too far, when Alec smiled.

“Magnus.” Alec said, thumb sweeping over Magnus’s cheekbone. “You are my family. I want to spend my Christmas, every Christmas, with you.”

Magnus shouldn’t have been surprised - Alec had this incredible ability to rearrange the world Magnus knew with a simple short sentence. Still, every time he did it Magnus soared. He knew he was looking at Alec like he’d hung the stars, and he had, had lit up Magnus’s life in a way he wasn’t ever expecting.

“How about you and I decorate the loft tonight?” Alec grinned, his smile contagious - Magnus felt himself catching it and grinning back.

“I’d love that, Alexander.”

 

As Magnus stood and surveyed their work, he felt Alec come up behind him, wrapping his long arms around Magnus’s waist and hooking his chin over Magnus’s shoulder. They’d spent three hours on it, half actually decorating and the other half drinking rosé and dancing to Nat King Cole. Magnus usually themed his decorations, displayed them tastefully, but had been so caught up in the joy of decorating with Alec, for Alec’s first time, that all his interior design skills had been thoroughly shoved aside.

“It looks like a unicorn threw up in here.” Magnus laughed.

“I know, isn’t it great?”

Magnus turned his head to kiss Alec’s wine-blushed cheek. “It’s absolutely perfect.”

They stood, swaying on the spot even though the record had already ended, safe in each other’s embrace.

“Alexander,” Magnus whispered, after a while.

“Mm?”

“I don’t have anything prepared for tomorrow, I haven’t invited any guests, or gotten any food ready, I have some gifts, sure, for my friends and for your family, but-”

Alec interrupted him by holding a finger over Magnus’s lips, a move heart-warmingly familiar to him.

“Don’t worry about a thing, baby. Let’s go to bed.”

 

Magnus awoke to soft kisses being pressed to his forehead, chest to chest with Alec, legs tangled together and hearts connected, like it felt every time he woke up in his boyfriend’s arms. Magnus had expected this feeling to fade after even just these few months together, yet it hadn’t. Magnus found himself wishing it never would.

“Merry Christmas, beautiful,” Alec whispered, when he noticed Magnus was awake.

“Merry Christmas, Alexander,” he whispered back, voice hoarse and eyes shining at the endearment.

They lay together, finding comfort in company, breathing in the other’s presence and lazily touching, kissing, holding. Ten minutes went by, or maybe it could have been a hundred, before Alec insisted that they get dressed and dressed well. “I have a surprise for you,” he said, and Magnus couldn’t deny the overpowering curiosity.

Alec kept quiet, only smiling mischievously at every one of Magnus’s enquiries. Without a word, he led Magnus to the kitchen, pouring coffee that had already brewed and handing it over, after making it the exact way Magnus liked it. He prepared himself for the satisfying first sip; that was one of his favourite yet mundane things about mornings.

Unfortunately, that first sip ended up across the worktop as a portal opened in the entryway, and out stepped Catarina, Dot and Madzie.

Or at least, he could tell it was them through his wards and through their cheery greetings; he could barely see them behind the enormous bags of gifts they were laden with. As Madzie ran over to hug her favourite uncles, Magnus watched in astonishment as people filled the space, all bearing gifts and food; Izzy and Jace, Maryse and Max, Luke, Ragnor and Raphael, Clary, Maia and Simon; the latter declaring to everyone’s amusement that since he didn’t even celebrate Christmas, this had better be the best Christmas ever.

Magnus, wonder written across every feature, turned to Alec, who simply shrugged. “Surprise, it’s your family.”

Magnus was grateful he’d already put his cup down, so he could throw his arms around Alec without delay. The force from Magnus caused them to stumble and spin, Alec laughing as Magnus buried his face in his neck.

“I can’t believe this. You even got Ragnor to come out of hiding,” Magnus said against Alec’s neck.

“I think he likes me. It’s very hard to tell.” They laughed together, holding each other tight.

“Mistletoe,” they heard Madzie say. They opened their eyes to see everyone buzzing around, putting presents under the tree and placing tubs of food and mismatched crockery on available kitchen surfaces, and no one else but the observant little girl had noticed that they were standing under the sprig of mistletoe Magnus had made sure to put up last night.

“That it is, sweet pea, well recognised,” Magnus said, still wrapped up in Alec’s arms.

Madzie shook her head, and smiled at them. Louder, attracting everyone’s attention, she pointed at the plant again. “It means you have to kiss.”

Several voices agreed, causing Alec to laugh again, looking at the floor before looking back at Magnus, and he found himself wondering why scholars had not yet waxed poetic about Alexander’s smile – maybe, that job was completely up to him. He cupped Alec’s face, gently brushing his thumb against his cheek, Alec leaning into the touch with adoration in his eyes.

 “Well, best not disappoint them, hm?”

Alec grinned. “Merry Christmas, Magnus.”

“Merry Christmas, my love.”


End file.
